When the King Comes Knocking:Torog
Torog, the God of Torture, has been long-tormented by the unhealable wounds of his battle with a Primordial entity. He has been trapped in the Underdark since time out of memory, unable to leave, unable to succor himself while he stays. It is no longer sufficient for him to share his pain by inflicting it on others; he demands an end. To that purpose he has ravaged the lives of people from the surface, stolen what they value most, or driven them mad, all in the hope that in their need for revenge or some other purpose they will finally slay him.
The Torturer's Beckoning was instantaneous. A divine voice reaches far. When a God speaks one listens. It began as a shrill, whining drone from below. Not loud at all, and not entirely clear in its message. The sound writhes and thrashes within the minds of those who hear it, like the body of a prisoner upon the stretching wracks. The voice warps, collapses upon itself. It changes from an ear-splitting shriek into something darker, and deeper, and infinitely more unsettling and malevolent.
"COME," the Pained One says. "SLAY ME." The gurgling basso cares not for reasons. It doesn't ask for grandeur, or promise riches, or lure with false rewards. All it asks for is for termination, an end to everlasting agony, an exit from the immortal purgatory that is the Torturer's continued existence.
Torog is asking for death.
The races of the surface are afraid. They have converged at the Church of Erathis in the Eternal City of Scier-Nar-Utnor. The High Pontifex has decreed that the alliance of Humans, Elves and the Dragonborn not to act upon the horrific message from the depths. His holy wisdom has decided that the Beckoning is a sign of weakness, and that it is better to keep the Pained One held captured within a controlled iron fist, rather than answering his challenge to death.
"We will battle the minions of the Torturer, and keep his wolves on a strict chain," said the High Pontifex. "But to commit deicide is not a task created for mortals."
The bastions of Eathis holds, and those who are allied with the Goddess of Civilization have been posed not to slay the Prisoner in the Depths.
Not all have listened, though. There are those who seek glory. And there are those who seek to put the Pained One out of his suffering for reasons that are not entirely clear. Perhaps not even to themselves.
-Originally posted by Chrespo, IC Post #1.
